NBC Late Night: What Have We Learned?
[Editor's Update: NBC and O'Brien's camp have confirmed a deal has been signed. O'Brien gets $33 million, and an additional $12 million goes to his staff as severance. The Associated Press have the full details.]
As of this writing, there was no official severance deal between NBC and Conan O’Brien. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a severance deal was signed, oh, an hour or so ago, but you know me: I don’t believe any deal until Nikki Finke confirms it.
Seriously, though, how many times over the past few weeks have we heard that a deal’s been signed? Eleventy-ish? Every report has had the parties “close,” but for one little sticking point. At various times, that sticking point has been the exact amount NBC will have to pony up; how soon Conan can start a show on another network; who owns the characters; what provisions will be made for the show staff members that packed up and moved across the country only to have their jobs yanked away from them; and how long Conan will have to refrain from mocking NBC after he leaves. Perhaps as a result of this last point, Conan’s been getting his digs in now. But more on that in a minute.
It’s been while since my last post on this topic because there’s been nothing to report. Like everyone in this neck of the woods, I’ve been checking Gawker TV‘s nightly monologue roundup and slavishly refreshing Deadline Hollywood for the latest leaks. (The latest revelation: Jeffs Zucker and Gaspin never brought NBC late night head Rick Ludwin into the loop on the rescheduling fiasco. Isn’t it nice to know that television networks are just as dysfunctional as wherever you work?)
If you need a refresher on the situation, check out the animated “Showdown at NBC“. It’s attractively animated, and can be experienced in English and Chinese.
While everyone else is doing the hard work of editing video, we have time to get philosophical. This whole brouhaha is starting to feel like a MacGuffin that’s set us on a journey of discovery — about late night television, about egos, about America. Here’s some of what we’ve learned so far:
None of this is Jeff Zucker or Jay Leno’s fault. They’re merely helpless victims in all of this. Really. Just ask Jeff Zucker and Jay Leno.
On Monday night’s Charlie Rose show, Zucker tried his hardest to steer the conversation towards anything but late night. When pressed, he admitted that things hadn’t gone as planned — and then said he’d received death threats over this. If you missed Charlie Rose’s “Bitch, please” face, it’s about 30 seconds into the second clip here. Or watch the whole interview and ponder this: Does Schadenfreude work when the party experiencing misfortune doesn’t realize they’re knee-deep in it?
Meanwhile, Jay Leno started off his Monday show with a cringeworthy explanation of how, exactly, he’s the victim in all this. Go check out the video and/or transcript. No description can do it justice.
1992 isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.
Forgive me for appropriating a William Faulkner line, but when it comes to style and content, this whole thing is, well, darn near Faulkneresque. Because if you’re watchg Leno and Letterman, you’ll realize that to them, this isn’t about Conan O’Brien in 2010 at all. It’s about Letterman still thinking Leno’s a weaselly hack, and Leno thinking Letterman… um, fooled around with a staffer or something. It’s hard to tell, but I think it’s the only straw he has left to grasp at since no one’s buying his contention that Conan O’Brien brought this on himself.
Conan’s at his best when he has nothing to lose.
Even though there’s no exit deal in place, Conan’s taking this head on. NBC can’t subject him to worse than they’ve already done to him.
He’s called the network brass “incompetent morons“. He’s listed his show and himself on Craigslist. And, in an especially pointed “Eff You” to the hand that’s biting him, on Wednesday night welcomed a “Late Night” character that was never supposed to make the trip west: The Masturbating Bear.
It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to see on Fox. And it’s killing in the ratings.
Sympathy for the jilted
The more Conan hits back at NBC, the higher his ratings go. On Tuesday night, he was a mere one-tenth of a point behind Letterman in the overall demos, and almost three times higher in the coveted 18-49 demos. Those 18-to-49ers were the same demographic that showed up at Monday’s “I’m with CoCo” rallies across the country. Here in L.A., at least 300 people turned up despite some nasty weather. Getting 30 people to do anything in the rain in L.A. is a major coup, so you can bet that local network heads took notice. Except, maybe, NBC’s. They’re awfully good at ignoring people.
